Saturday, January 28, 2017

Additional 25 MW from India from February 1, Birgunj to become load-shedding free

An additional 25 MW of electricity will be added to the national grid through the Muzaffarpur-Dhalkebar cross-border transmission line from coming Wednesday (February 1).
Following an agreement with Indian nodel aganecy for electricity import, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) had decided to use the full capacity of the Muzaffarpur-Dhalkebar transmission line and import an additional 40 MW of electricity from February 1. However, the full capacity utilisation of the transmission line could cause technical problems, the the NEA decided to import only 25 MW. However, it will be enough for the Kathmandu Valley and there will be no load shedding as before, said NEA managing director Kulman Ghishing
Earlier, NEA had signed an agreement with NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam of India – a National Thermal Power Corporation – to purchase an additional 80 MW of electricity via the Muzaffarpur-Dhalkebar cross-border transmission line. With the agreement, Nepal had decided to import a total of 80 MW of electricity, 40 MW from December 31, 2016 – which NEA has been importing – and the remaining 40 MW from February 1.
However, only 25 MW of electricity will be supplied to the transmission line from Wednesday as importing the remaining 40 MW by utilising the full capacity of the transmission line would cause fluctuation in power supply giving rise to technical glitch,"  Ghishing said, confirming that there will be no load-shedding, though NEA will be importing 15 MW less than the agreed 40 MW. "More electricity could be imported from India, if needed, once the construction of the Raxaual-Parwanipur and Kasaha-Kataiya transmission lines is completed."
At present, a total of 355 MW of electricity is being imported from India. However, with the import of an additional 25 MW, the total electricity imported from India from Wednesday will be 380 MW. Nepal imported a total of 347 MW of electricity from India last year.
Though total electricity generation in the country has declined due to the decreased water level in rivers, NEA thinks electricity supply is still manageable as the demand has not risen significantly. At present, there is a demand-supply gap of 399 MW of electricity in the system but still there is virtually no load-shedding in the Kathmnandu Valley and Pokhara.
Ghising said that though the supply of electricity will be less than the demand especially in the months of January, February, March and April, there will be no load-shedding. "From May onwards, the country will be generating nearly 800 MW of electricity on its own,” he said, adding that there is two hours of load-shedding in Terai and four hours of load-shedding in industries at present, while the Kathmandu Valley and Pokhara have already become free from load-shedding.
The NEA has also resolved the low voltage problems in Birgunj and other Terai towns. As a result, Birgunj, too, will soon become load-shedding free after Kathmandu and Pokhara. Energy Minister Janardan Sharma has claimed that Birgunj will be free from load-shedding over the next 20 days.
According to NEA, national electricity demand at present stands at 1,265 MW. Currently, NEA projects are generating 334 MW while private sector projects are generating 175 MW. A total of 866 MW is being supplied at present, including the import from India.
Likewise, the current demand of electricity in the Kathmandu Valley in the peak hours is 320 MW.
Though the government has planned to import up to 560 MW of electricity from India to end load-shedding, it would not be needed as a total of 97 MW generated by five big projects has already been added to the national grid in the current fiscal year. Fifteen more projects will start generation in the current fiscal year, adding 142 MW of electricity to the national grid.
Meanwhile, the 220 kv Khimti-Dhalkebar transmission line will be operationalised from tomorrow. It will help channelise the extra electricity to the Terai and also brought to Kathmandu as and when needed.

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